Baling-press.



in. 736,550. PATENTED AUG. 1a, 1903.

J. T., w. R. & G. B. RODGERS.

BALING PRESS.

APPLICATION rum) APR. 22, 1899.

no MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IE- l- No. 736,550. I PATENTED AUG. 18, 1903. J. T., W. R. & G. B..RODGERS. BALING PRESS.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 22, 1899. 30 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

No. 786,550. Patented August 18, 1903.

NITFD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES T. RODGERS, WILLIAM R. RODGERS, AND GEORGE E. RODGERS, OF MEMPHIS,TENNESSEE.

BALING-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 736,550, dated August18, 1903.

Application filed April 22,1899. Serial No. 714,095. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: and adapted to swing from a charging posi-Be it known that we, JAMES T. RODGERS, tion to the pressing or baling.position above WILLIAM R. RODGERS. and GEORGE B. Ronthe press 3.GERs,citizens of the United States, residing at 19 represents rollerssecured at each end of 5 Memphis, in the county of Shelby and State ofthe cotton-boxes 5 and adapted to rest upon Tennessee, have inventedcertain new and the track shown to afford additional support usefulImprovements in Pressing and Oomfor the boxes 5. pressing, of which thefollowing is a specifi- 6 6 are upper cotton-boxes mounted to recation.volve (preferably on a ball-bearing) upon the to The object of ourinvention is to first press column or support 16 to one side of the pathor form cotton-bales and then compress them of boxes 5 and adapted toswing from a posiin a manner and with results not heretofore tion abovethe press 3 to a position above a attained, the compression taking placeincompress to be described. The boxes 6 6 are wardly in substantiallyall radial directions, provided with retainers 25, which serve to re- :5whereby a greater density is obtained than tain the balewhen onceforcedinto said boxes has heretofore been attainable from a single by thepress or compress. compression. 7 is a concave or semicylindrical platencon- In carrying out our invention we employa structed of iron or othersuitable material cotton-press adapted for use in any and all andsuitably secured to the wooden block 8 7o 20 ginning plants for thepurpose of pressing or of the piston 11 of the hydraulic compress 10.forming the ordinarily dense bale and a co- 9 9 are concave orsemicylindrical top operating compress with semicylindrical platblocksor platens constructed of iron or other ens for highly compressing thebale thus suitable material rotating with the boxes 6 6 pressed orformed. and conforming to thelower movingcornpress- 25 With these andminor objects in view our platen 7, so that when the two are broughtinvention consists in features of novelty heretogether they will conformwith one another inafter fully set out and particularly speciandcomplete a cylindrical compress-box, as fied in the claims. shown inFig. 2. The top blocks or platens In the drawings, Figure l is a sideelevation 9 are secured to and carried by the frame- 30 of our improvedbale-forming press and 00- work of the upper cotton-boxes 6.

operating compress. Fig. 2 is an elevation of 12 and 13 represent thetop frame of the the compress end of the same. Fig. 3 is a presssurmounted by steel I-beams 14,thereperspective viewof one of thesemicylindrical by further strengthening the press on the platensdetached. Fig. 4 is a top plan View compress side over the hydraulic ram10. 5 of another platen; and Fig. 5 is a cross-sec- 18 is a beam carriedby the upper cottontion of the same, showing a block or filling boxes 6,to which are bolted the top blocks or that may be used in said platenshould it be platens 9. This beam is held in position by desired toobtain an ordinary square-pressed the center rod or column 15 and therods 26.

bale of low density. 21, 22, and 23 represent a foundation for 4o 1 and2 represent the foundation of our the hydraulic compress 10.

press, which may be of any material suffi- We practice ourinvention asfollows: Cotciently strong and durable. ton is delivered from the floorF into the open 3 isasteam baling-press cylinder constructbox 5, thatoccupies the charging position, ed in the usual mannerand carrying thelower and when this box is full the boxes 5 5 are 5 45 moving platen l.revolved until the box containing the charge While we show a steambaling-press, it is is over the steam formingpress 3 and the obviousthat we may substituteascrew-press other box 5 is in position forfilling. The or hydraulic ram. steam baling or forming press is thenopera- 5 5 are double cotton-boxes which are pivted to force its platen4 up throughthe box 50 oted on the top of the iron column 17,prefercontaining the charge of cotton until the cotably through themedium of a ball-bearing, ton is forced up into one of the pair of boxes6, where it is retained by the retainers 25. During this preliminarypressing or forming operation the other box 5 is being filled with loosecotton from the floor or from a condenser and the boxes 5 are againrevolved to bring a charge over the press 3, and said charge is likewiseforced up into the compress-box 6. This operation is continued untilsufficient cotton is packed into one of the upper boxes 6 to form abale, when the said box 6 is revolved to a position over the hydrauliccompress, Which is then put into operation and its semicylindricalmoving platen 7 is forced up into the box against the cotton alreadypressed and formed therein by the steam-press, and said bale will bethereby compressed into great density.

By employing the semicylindrical platens described we are enabled tosecure, as has been stated, a compression taking place inwardlyinsubstantially all radial directions by compression firstat the sides ofthe bale when the same comes into contact with the Vertical portion ofthe curved face of the platen and then both vertically and laterallywhen the bale comes into contact with the entire curved face of theplaten. It will therefore readily be seen that by our press we areenabled to force the bale into a lesser lateral area first and thensubject the same to the vertical compression, thereby greatly increasingthe density of compression.

The words compress and compression used herein areintended to conveytheir usual technicaldislinction from the mere formative action of apress in baling cotton with the ordinary density of a plantation bale.

The compression effected by the compress 10 reduces the bale to greathardness and density,.even greater than is obtainable from other methodsof single compression. results from the fact that the compress-platensare semicylindrical, whereby the com pression is accomplished inwardlyin nearly every radial direction. The resulting bale is cylindrical. Ourcylindrical bale has advantages over ordinary wound cylindrical bales,however, because We get compression in a plurality of directions wherethe wound bale gets compression only in the direction transverse to theweb that is being wound and gets stretching or attenuation in thedirection of the length of said web. Moreover, our cylindrical bale canbe more successfully sampled than the round bale. Our bale has obviousadvantages over the old forms of cylindrical bales pressed in thedirection of their axes. These old bales receive pressure in only onedirection, whereas our bale is compressed in many radial directions.Moreover, such cylindrical bales were previously made only ofplantation-bale density and were not compressed as that term isunderstood in the art.

The pressing operation of the machine de- Thisscribed as taking placebefore the operation of the hydraulic compress is repeated three or moretimes, as may be necessary, to get the desired amount of cotton into oneof the boxes 6 to form a bale. The operation might stop here and thebale may be tied and thrown out in the form of an ordinary squareplantation bale. Our apparatus thus serves either of two purposes. Iftheprocess is carried further and the bale compressed into a round baleof great density, it is simply tied and thrown out in the usual manner,ordinary ties or wire being used and the bale being covered with anydesired material.

In order to press or form bales of square,

shape by the press 3, the platens 9 may be provided with thefilling-blocks 30, as seen in Fig. 5, when it will be seen that sincethe platen 4 of said press is flat or straight on its upper faceordinary bales can be made with the bottom, top, and sides fiat. To makethe core or filling-block 30 easily removable for making the roundcompressed bales, it is provided with lugs 31, which engage loops orhooks 32 in the outer edge of the semicylindrical platen.

Having thus described our invention, the following is what we claim asnew therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The combination of a compress of the character described having amovable cylindrical platen operating under high pressure, of a pair ofrotatable cotton-boxes mounted above said movable platen, of astationary semicylindrical platen carried by each of said boxes andrevoluble therewith; said boxes adapted to move from a. preliminarybaling position into line with said movable platen,

of blocks removably secured in said' stationary platens when in theirpreliminary baling position, and means for forming said preliminarybales.

2. In a compress of the character described, the combination ofsemicylindrical platens cooperating to compress fibrous material andfilling-blocks removably secured within said platens, whereby saidcompress is capable of compressing bales of different shapes.

3. In a compress of the character described, the combination ofsemicylindrical platens codperating to compress fibrous material, ofloops or hooks in the outer edge of said platens, filling-blocks, lugson said blocks, said lugs adapted to engage said loops or hooks, wherebysaid blocks are removably secured within said platens and said compressis capable ofcompressing bales of difierent shapes.

Witnesses:

R. E. CASADINE, S. B. HOWLETT.

